A question of equality over fear

Wednesday

Sep 30, 2009 at 9:49 AMSep 30, 2009 at 9:50 AM

When voters in Maine check off their respective boxes on Question One in a few weeks, their decision should be based on one determining factor: whether or not they believe gay couples should be denied the right to marry each other.

When voters in Maine check off their respective boxes on Question One in a few weeks, their decision should be based on one determining factor: whether or not they believe gay couples should be denied the right to marry each other.

Recently, other issues have been dragged into the debate. These are diversionary tactics, and they shouldn’t sway citizens from the essential matter at stake, which is really pretty simple.

I was somewhat taken aback when we started seeing television ads warning that gay marriage would be taught in our schools if Question One is defeated. How exactly does one "teach" gay marriage, I wondered? Will children be taught how to fill out an application at the town hall? Will they be instructed in how to best approach the local minister?

Or are opponents of gay marriage trying to imply that children will be taught how to engage in the homosexual act itself?

When change of any kind is imminent, you can wager that an element of fear will greet its approach. And there are certain individuals who will try to use that fear to manipulate people into doing what they want them to do. I can’t help but wonder if that’s what’s happening here. "If we allow gay marriage to stand in Maine, schools will be allowed to teach YOUR CHILDREN how to be GAY!"

Maybe I’m just being cynical. But if opponents aren’t employing scare tactics, then what point are they trying to make? What, specifically, are they afraid our children will learn in school?

When I finally saw one of the ads that had fueled these claims, it featured a Massachusetts couple whose second-grader had been in a class where the teacher read a Dutch children’s book called "King and King." In the book, a young prince marries another prince.

That’s the controversy. Essentially the book is a fairy tale (please refrain.), but these people argue that it amounts to sex education. If that’s the case, we should probably ban "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella" as well.

The worst thing kids could learn about gay marriage in the classroom is that it exists. Well, guess what.

If my hunch is correct, though, and opponents are truly trying to scare voters, here’s hoping the citizens of Maine are too smart to be played. Heterosexual education in school is controversial as it is; teachers are not about to wade into the firestorm of discussing the physical art of homosexuality in the classroom.

What we have here is the same sort of campaign employed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy when he used the fear of communism to bolster his political career. What we are hearing now is the kind of rhetoric exercised by bigots when they sought to quell the civil rights of black Americans.

Today’s claims by gay marriage opponents carry echoes of the cries of "miscegenation" declared by those who argued in the last century that desegregation would destroy the White Race.

Don’t misunderstand -- I realize a lot of people are going to vote to overturn the current law because they believe in the deepest core of their soul that homosexuality violates the will of God. My only dispute with these people is that they’re imposing their religious beliefs on others; then again, I also understand they might have a hard time condoning something they perceive as a sin.

But let’s not pretend Question One is about anything other than marriage equality. You support it or you don’t.

The poet Kahlil Gibran once wrote, "Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be." There’ll come a day when gay marriage will be as accepted in the mainstream as mixed-race marriages are in most parts of the country. And Maine has here an opportunity to be the first state to embrace this movement by popular vote, rather than through the courts or the legislature. This is a moment of historical impact.

I do have a concern over referendum questions in general, however, in that sometimes there tends to be confusion over what a "yes" or "no" vote means. For instance, if you’re voting in support of gay marriage you may assume that the question should be marked "Yes," when that isn’t the case.

The November ballot will ask: "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?" If you take the time to read the question, it’s pretty cut-and-dried.

But I’ve simplified the matter further by telling myself there should be NO discrimination in Maine here in the 21st century, and therefore the box marked "No" is the appropriate vote for Question One.

D. Allan Kerr doesn’t want his baby girl to learn anything about sex -- ever. He may be contacted at the_culling@hotmail.com.

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